Ngāpuhi activist Mike Smith's case spotlighted at UN's COP31 climate summit

The daughter of Ngāpuhi climate activist Mike Smith has shared his legal case against climate polluters - which has been blocked by the government - at the UN's annual climate summit.

Bianca Ranson (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whaingaroa), a climate activist herself, presented on behalf of Smith at an event at COP31 in Türkiye early on Thursday morning (NZT).

Smith's case against Fonterra, Z Energy and other major emitters was due to be heard in the High Court next April.

It was stopped in its tracks after the incumbent government - prompted by Smith's case - stepped in to block both current and future tort-based litigation over climate change, passing a law change under urgency in August.

RNZ reported in May that a previously undisclosed briefing document had been provided to the prime minister's office by Fonterra and Z Energy regarding Smith's case.

RNZ also reported officials had told the government not to intervene in the court case.

Smith was now challenging the law change through a new case filed in the High Court in June.

About 80,000 delegates are at COP31, which features both official negotiations as well as hundreds of side events hosted by countries, NGOs and other groups.

New Zealand's delegation would be joined by caretaker climate minister Simon Watts and Labour and Green MPs next week, when negotiations reach crunch-point.

Ranson shared her father's case at an event about indigenous climate justice, after Smith was unable to attend.

The event also featured Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change - the grassroots student organisation that secured a landmark opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice last year.

"There's just such huge value in sharing the specific sequence of events in Mike's case, that I think will be of huge interest to other indigenous peoples and climate lawyers from around the world," Ranson said ahead of the event.

More than 3000 climate-related cases have been filed worldwide, some of them by other indigenous groups.

It was valuable for all those communities and groups to share their experiences, Ranson said.

"We can learn how others have gathered evidence and supported witnesses, we can learn how communities have maintained their leadership through long legal processes, [and] we can learn from setbacks, including changes in law that close routes people have worked really hard to open."

At the time the government announced the law change, outgoing justice minister Paul Goldsmith said Smith's case was "creating uncertainty in business confidence".

Blocking climate torts would "remove the possible development of a new regime that contradicts the framework Parliament has already enacted to respond to climate change".

That had left no avenue for New Zealand communities affected by climate change to pursue, Ranson said.

"A central question has really remained unanswered - and that is where could the responsibility for alleged harm actually be tested?"

For indigenous people, the consequences of climate change "reach through every part of community life", she said.

New Zealand's Climate Change Commission has repeatedly highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on Māori communities.

A report it published earlier this year said sites of cultural significance were now highly exposed to climate hazards, while extreme weather and environmental changes were affecting taonga species, habitats, and harvesting practices.

Climate change was also compounding structural inequalities, the commission said.

Many at-risk locations had higher Māori populations, and the incidence of heat-affected health conditions like respiratory and cardiovascular disease was higher.

The question Smith wanted to test through the courts was what those in power owed to the people and places affected by their decisions, Ranson said.

"That question belongs in courtrooms and it also belongs in government offices. It belongs here at COP31, company boardrooms, investment decisions and international negotiations."

The answer had to involve practical consequences and action, she said.

"[That] affects whether protection arrives in time, whether cultural relationships can continue, and whether future generations inherit places where they can live well."

She hoped that sharing Smith's case with an international audience would give it new momentum.

"Definitely keeping the pressure on, keeping it in the minds of people back in New Zealand - the risks of climate change we're seeing in real time with the devastating losses that we've had back home with extreme weather events."